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Headed to Coast Guard, local woman caps collegiate career with prestigious sailing award

Dana Rohde, with her award after being named the top collegiate athlete in sailing. Photo provided

Mark Swendra

Updated:
June 4, 2018, 3:13 p.m.

Capping an
incredible year of competition, Richmond Hill’s Dana Rohde was awarded the
Quantum Women’s Sailor of the Year award as the top collegian in the country.

Those who
watched Rohde grow up here are aware of the success she had at the junior level
and as a member of the Richmond Hill High School sailing team, coached by her
mother, Carrie.

It should perhaps
come as no surprise that Rohde, 22, dominated district and national
championships in her senior year at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in Connecticut
and was the only finalist considered for the award.

“I never
expected to win,” Rohde said Monday, when reached at home before embarking on
her Coast Guard career, which begins July 1.

“This year
was about doing the best we could and that was my focus,” she said. “This is
the best way to end my women’s college sailing career. It will be a reminder of
the great time I had sailing in college and the great friends I made.”

Rohde won eight
women’s events and placed second in A-division in the 2018 Sperry College
Sailing Women’s National Championship. She has also been named a Women’s
All-American and honorable mention every year of her college sailing career.

The Sailor
of the Year award is decided by a committee of the ICSA (Inter-collegiate
Sailing Association) and was presented during the national championship May 25
in Norfolk.

“This award
honors the most elite in the sport and she is that,” Brian Swingly, head coach
for U.S. Coast Guard Academy told Scuttlebutt Sailing News. “I am proud and
thrilled for her, she is an incredibly professional athlete and works hard
every day to make herself and teammates better. I cannot think of anyone more
deserving.”

Rohde started
sailing at age 6 and is part of a family synonymous with being on the water. Her
father Dan is a sailor who graduated from the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy,
Kings Point, and sisters Krysta and Devon both graduated from the Coast Guard
Academy.

“It’s been a
huge commitment” (over the years), Rohde said. “My parents used to drive me to
Florida” (to compete) and the biggest challenge was to stay consistent.

Rohde studied
operations research and computer analysis while at the Academy and will be an
ensign, assigned to Coast Guard Cutter Juniper as a deck watch officer in
Newport, RI.